Bizarre Excel "Read Only" error

[Mark Gibson]

Help have a weird Excel / networking issue that I need a hand with.

The Network:

1 x G5 iMac 10.3.8, running Office 2004 with latest patches sharing the
contents of its "documents" folder. Connected via AirPort to an
Airport Extreme base station.

1 x G4 iMac 10.2.8 and Office 2004 with latest patches connected via
Ethernet to the Airport Extreme base station.

2 x G4 iBooks (both 10.3.8 and Office 2004 with latest patches)
connected via AirPort to the AirPort Extreme base station.

The G4 iMac and the iBooks connect to the G5 as the owner so
permissions should not be an issue.

The Issue:

The G4 iMac is fine. It can open any Office (or any other document)
without problem. The G5 iMac is similarly fine.

The iBooks though have an issue.

The iBooks can open Word and PowerPoint documents without any issues.
However attempting to open Excel documents results in an error message:

"The file Excel Test1.xls cannot be accessed. The file may be read
only, or you may be trying to access a read only location. Or the
server the document is stored on may or may not be responding. Cancel /
Retry"

If the file is copied from the G5 iMac to either iBook the file opens
fine.

I used my PowerBook as a control and logged onto the G5 iMac via the
AirPort and was able to open the Excel fine without problem. This would
suggest an Excel issue rather than a networking / permissions issue.

Actions to date:

So far I have:

Rebuilt permissions on the iBook. Result: no change.

Deleted the Excel plist files off the iBook and created them afresh.
Result: no change.

Deleted Office 2004 entirely and re-installed (including running the
SR1 and Junk mail updates). Result: no change.

Re-applied the access privileges on the G5 iMac. Result: no change.

Any thoughts - flashes of brilliance or do tell them to buy Apple
Works?

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Help have a weird Excel / networking issue that I need a hand with.

The Network:

1 x G5 iMac 10.3.8, running Office 2004 with latest patches sharing the
contents of its "documents" folder. Connected via AirPort to an
Airport Extreme base station.

1 x G4 iMac 10.2.8 and Office 2004 with latest patches connected via
Ethernet to the Airport Extreme base station.

2 x G4 iBooks (both 10.3.8 and Office 2004 with latest patches)
connected via AirPort to the AirPort Extreme base station.

The G4 iMac and the iBooks connect to the G5 as the owner so
permissions should not be an issue.

The Issue:

The G4 iMac is fine. It can open any Office (or any other document)
without problem. The G5 iMac is similarly fine.

The iBooks though have an issue.

The iBooks can open Word and PowerPoint documents without any issues.
However attempting to open Excel documents results in an error message:

"The file Excel Test1.xls cannot be accessed. The file may be read
only, or you may be trying to access a read only location. Or the
server the document is stored on may or may not be responding. Cancel /
Retry"

If the file is copied from the G5 iMac to either iBook the file opens
fine.

I used my PowerBook as a control and logged onto the G5 iMac via the
AirPort and was able to open the Excel fine without problem. This would
suggest an Excel issue rather than a networking / permissions issue.

Actions to date:

So far I have:

Rebuilt permissions on the iBook. Result: no change.

Deleted the Excel plist files off the iBook and created them afresh.
Result: no change.

Deleted Office 2004 entirely and re-installed (including running the
SR1 and Junk mail updates). Result: no change.

Re-applied the access privileges on the G5 iMac. Result: no change.

Any thoughts - flashes of brilliance or do tell them to buy Apple
Works?

It's usually unnecessary to uninstall and reinstall Mac applications. I
suggest you repair permissions on ALL machines, reboot them and try again.

 

[Mark Gibson]

Bob,

Tried repairing all permissions and rebooting - still no change.

 

[Rob Morton]

On the iBooks, are you logging in and connecting to the other computers
in the same way and using the same account you used from the PowerBook?
Also, does it happen when you are logged in as a different user? Do you
have on access virus scanning happening anywhere?

No answers, but those are the first things I would look at.

 

[Mark Gibson]

Logging on in exactly the same way (i.e. as the "owner" (admin)
account for the G5 iMac)

There aren't any other users defined on the G5 iMac but I guess we
could set one up.

No virus scanning, no firewall running on any of the iMacs or iBooks.

 

[Rob Morton]

I meant logging into the iBooks with a different account and then try
connecting to the iMac. Just to be sure that it is not something in
that user folder.

 

[Mark Gibson]

Ah! No I haven't.

Will setup a test user account on one iBook and see what happens.

 

[Peter Walker]

I get a very similar error message on my Powerbook, but under very different
circumstances.

I get this error message "Workbook cannot be accessed. The file may be
read-only, or you may be trying to access a read-only location. Or, the
server the document is stored on may be responding."

The condition occurs when:

1. I have already emailed a spreadsheet using the File / Sento / Mail
Recipient (as Attachment) function
2. The first time it will send fine.
3. If I try to send the same file a second time, I will always get this
error.

I am using Office 2004 with Apple Mail as my default email app.

I have also got Acrobat 7 Pro installed (but I doubt that's a factor). I
also have a lot of stuff installed on this laptop, so it could be related to
some esoteric item I have installed over time.

Of note, the error has only appeared in the past two weeks.

Peter Walker

 

[Mark Gibson]

OK well for my problem it seems to be a case of "if it was broken in
1998 - don't fix it 6 years later"

Apparently its covered by
<<http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/132376>> where if the two
machines have the same name for the hard drive, Excel can't handle
it.

I changed one machine's hard drive icon name and everything is now
fine.

Go figure!